MTV to launch eight new reality series

While other networks are slowing dropping in new shows here and there, MTV is planning to launch eight new series in 2009 — including The CollegeHumor Show and The Girls of Hedsor Hall.

“In the coming months, we are unveiling an extremely ambitious launch schedule filled with an unprecedented volume of new content,” said Tony Disanto, Executive Vice President, Series Development & Programming. “We are giving our viewers a spectrum of choice across a diverse slate of exciting creative in various genres and formats by expanding to new timeslots and fast tracking projects. Our upcoming Sunday night block of programming has the unifying theme of entrepreneurship, ambition, and enterprise wrapped in an adrenalized spirit and attitude.”

NITRO CIRCUS — From the producers of Jackass comes MTV’s Nitro Circus which centers on Travis Pastrana, the world’s best freestyle motocross rider since the age of 14, who has built an empire doing things previously thought impossible and always unadvisable. His Nitro Circus franchise includes video games, licensed merchandise, and now a MTV series. Whether it’s jumping out of an airplane without a parachute or being the first person ever to double black flip a motorcycle, Pastrana does not stop. Joining him in the cast are his equally insane and entertaining buddies: childhood friend and professional mountain biker Jim DeChamp, charismatic loud-mouth nemesis Andy Bell, base jumping daredevil Erik Roner, female motocross sensation Jolene Van Vugt, and husky and hysterical former sheet-rocker Streetbike Tommy. Their hilariously intense and irrational game of one-upsmanship coupled with their strong friendship makes this train wreck the most watchable show in years.

“Unlike Jackass, the Nitro Circus guys actually are professionals, but that doesn’t mean they got all their marbles, because they don’t. I am wondering if these yahoos got any.” – Johnny Knoxville

THE COLLEGEHUMOR SHOW — Created by two high school friends to share their idiotic photos and stories while in college, collegehumor.com has grown into a pop culture phenomenon with six million loyal monthly readers. Shot in the actual site offices and featuring the actual site employees, The CollegeHumor Show is an offbeat look into the company that creates some of today’s most popular Internet comedy. The twenty-something characters infuse their workplace with a chaotic frat-house attitude, making it feel more like a summer camp without counselors than an actual functioning business (turn the boss’s office into a ball pit? Why not?). The strength of the show lies in its ability to capture the energy and randomness of Internet comedy while grounding the fast-paced scenes in a relateable, character-driven story.

ROB DYRDEK’S FANTASY FACTORY — After the success of “Rob & Big,” ingenious skateboarder Rob Dyrdek is ready to become the Willy Wonka of Skateboarding in, “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.” The Fantasy Factory is a 25,000 square foot industrial-complex-turned-funhouse designed to expand the reaches of Rob’s skateboard empire, known as Dyrdek Enterprises. The heart of the Fantasy Factory is Rob’s office that sits atop the world’s first indoor concrete skate plaza — a place where anything Rob imagines can become reality. Rob continues to chase down his dreams in his own outlandish way, whether strapping on bouncy stilts to take on Lakers’ Lamar Odom in a game of one-on-one basketball, or enlisting longtime friend and skateboarding superstar Danny Way to help break the world’s land-speed record on a skateboard. Rob’s cousin Drama returns as Rob’s naïve, beat-upon whipping boy and personal assistant. As Rob fills his new digs with zip-lines, foam pits, skate ramps, and a “T Rex” (a cross between the Batmobile and a Stormtrooper), Rob will also look to fellow action sports friends, including Travis Pastrana, Paul Rodriguez, Steve Berra, Ken Block and Danny Way, to help him on his journey to make as many fantasies as he can come true.

COLLEGE LIFE — This is not reality… This is real. We’ve taken away the producers, directors and camera ops to give viewers College Life — a completely self-produced, groundbreaking series following students as they embark on their freshman year of school in a way never before seen on television. Shot at the University of Wisconsin, Madison by the students themselves, College Life gives viewers a raw and unpolished intimate look at college kids telling their own honest stories in their own way. From hookups to breakups, from the pressure to make good grades to experiencing homesickness, College Life delivers the next level of reality access.

HOW’S YOUR NEWS? — Don’t call them “mainstream media.” MTV hands the mic over to the most outrageous and inspiring reporters ever. No filters. No Boundaries. “How’s Your News?” began as a series of short films directed by Arthur Bradford featuring cast members with disabilities serving as news reporters who interview people on the street. The shorts, with their unexpected blend of raw humor and sincerity caught the eye of Matt Stone and Trey Parker of South Park fame, who executive produced a feature film that followed the reporters on a road trip across America. The film was widely embraced and won several film festival awards, demonstrating that these young peoples’ disabilities can also become their greatest ability in helping them to pose honest questions that get honest answers. Since its inception in 1998, “How’s Your News?” has built an enthusiastic cult following with the release of three previous documentaries and a CD of soundtrack music performed by the cast. The MTV series will feature a team of reporters, who drive across America in a customized tour bus documenting their experiences, which includes everything from covering the Grammy’s red carpet, to performing at the SXSW music festival, to learning to make cheese balls with Amy Sedaris. During the course of the show, viewers will learn more about this unique cast and their infectious sense of humor through man-on-the-street segments, musical performances, behind-the-scene adventures and celebrity interviews.

DADDY’S GIRLS — Over the course of five seasons, fans have watched Vanessa and Angela Simmons grow up before their eyes on Run’s House. Now, with the premiere of Daddy’s Girls, viewers can watch the sisters take a step toward independence as they make a permanent move to Los Angeles to set up a west coast office and showroom for their wildly successful pastry tennis shoe and apparel line, and so Vanessa can pursue her acting career. They might be 3000 miles away from home, but the lessons their father, Rev Run, has instilled are with them always… and the Rev is just a phone call away! Daddy’s Girls will also introduce viewers to two new faces, cousin and business associate Jessica and friend, Aliceia. Together, the four girls are determined to make it in Los Angeles with the Rev guiding them along the way.

THE GIRLS OF HEDSOR HALL (working title) — What will it take to turn a rowdy, mischievous girl into a true lady? From Executive Producer Donald J. Trump and Trump Productions LLC along with RDF USA , The Girls of Hedsor Hall takes extreme measures and ships 12 of the hardest partying, most foul-mouthed women in America off to England , where proper young ladies are born and bred. Once the girls set foot inside their proper English finishing school — Hedsor Hall — they are whipped into shape by headmistress Gill Harbord and disciplinarian Rosemary Shrager, along with the school’s visiting instructor, Former Miss USA Tara Conner who knows firsthand the consequences of out-of-control behavior. Ms. Conner nearly lost her Miss USA crown, but Donald Trump gave her a second chance and she transformed her wild ways. During each episode, the girls will be given an opportunity to completely transform their lives by learning everything from style and grace to etiquette and philanthropy, discovering that with the right tools, they can become ladies. It’s a total transformation — one that will force them to answer tough questions about who they are and what they hope to become. For all of the girls, this will be a true fish-out-of-water experience. Some of them will fail miserably and be expelled from Hedsor Hall, others will succeed in changing their misbehaving ways, and one girl will go on to graduate and receive $100,000 from Hedsor Hall.

MTV’S UNTITLED PERFORMING ARTS REALITY PROJECT (working title) — From the high school stage to center stage, MTV follows the stories of some of the most talented teenagers in the nation as they balance the enormous pressures of pursuing their dreams while navigating their way through the normal trials and tribulations of high school. Created by Nick Lachey and Colton Gramm, the show features students from Cincinnati’s famed, School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA). These gifted students face difficult decisions in planning for their futures and because of their common bonds of artistic expression, form life long friendships along the way. In this intensely competitive world of performing arts, MTV viewers will meet dream seekers from all over — a ballerina who dreams of dancing at the celebrated Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, to a gifted hip-hop dancer who’s new to the school and chasing the dream of dancing in music videos to a student who dreams of one day performing on Broadway. Each student is following their dream, and the cameras will be there to capture everything that comes along in their pursuit of their goals: The ups and downs, the adulations and the tears, and that moment when they risk it all. Nick Lachey is executive producer.